Category: Shaw History

It happened on the 600 block of Rhode Island in 1952, part 1 of many

There is a huge file from the Department of Justice about an incident that occurred around the 600 block of Rhode Island Avenue NW in the early 1950s.

The file we’ll be looking at is 144-16-95 [Frank Ray, Melvin Clements; Loran Lovan Taylor, Roland L. Gay – Victims] and you can look at this 240 page thing on the National Archives Catalog.

The investigation is mainly about a guy named Ezekiel “Zeke” Seigler, whose civil rights may have been violated when he was beaten by MPD. I’m going to spoil the ending. Nothing happens.

Seigler was an alcoholic who didn’t remember the beating. He made for a crap witness so therefore, nothing happened. But that’s not the interesting part. The interesting part is all the stuff brought forward from the investigation.

Despite it being a DOJ investigation, the FBI did the investigating and wrote up the reports. Zeke was arrested for being a drunk and was reportedly shot by Officer Taylor in the face.

Page 5 of DOJ case 144-16-95

Yes, I’m going to drag this one document through for a couple of months.

DC Law & Order: Cops and Robbers

I’m going to highlight something of interest to me. The National Archives will host a virtual Genealogy Fair with a variety of videos with a live Q&A. Something that may be of interest is M Marie Maxwell’s DC Law & Order: Cops and Robbers or how to look up your DC criminal relatives from the past. That last part is not official. This should be scheduled sometime in early June.

I’ve used some things from what is planned for the geni fair on this blog. The post for Thomas Lawler and James Boswell use a National Archives series, Personnel Case Files, ca. 1861–1950.

James T. Allen of Blagden Alley 1889

Old photo of a sullen man
James T. Allen, 1889. Painter Blagden Alley

This man was arrested for larceny. According to the info on the other side of this card he was a painter. Looking in the city directory, a James T. Allen who was a painter who lived in Blagden Alley. The card also said he had brown hair and light blue eyes, and that he was a very light mulatto. Sure. Genes are funny things.

It also says he was born in Massachusetts. I can’t find other James T. Allens born in MA around the 1890s in DC. Plenty of James and James T Allens in DC, just not any from Massachusetts.